Georgia Tech College of ArchitecturePlanning

                             People

Technology SquareDr. Nancey Green Leigh

Professor Nancey Green Leigh, Ph.D., FAICP

Ph.D., City and Regional Planning, University of California at Berkeley, 1989.
M.S., Economics, University of California at Berkeley, 1984.
M.S., Regional Planning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1979.
B.A., Urban Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1975.

CONTACT DR. LEIGH

Office: 204 Old Architecture
Phone: 404.894.9839
Fax: 404.894.1628
E-mail
Web site

TEACHING INTERESTS

Sustainable approaches to local economic development planning, urban and regional development, industrial restructuring, and brownfield redevelopment, and, the cinema of city.

BOOKS

  • Planning Local Economic Development, 4th edition, forthcoming with Edward J. Blakely.

  • Economic Revitalization: Cases and Strategies for City and Suburb,  March 2002, with Joan Fitzgerald. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. 

  • Stemming Middle Class Decline: Insights for Economic Development Planning, 1994, Rutgers University: CUPR Press.

    RESEARCH, SCHOLARSHIP AND CREATIVE ACTIVITIES

  • Invited paper on “Material Flows for Sustainable Industrial Systems in Urban Regions,” Ecological Cities Conference, sponsored by China’s Ministry of Constructon, Lang Fang, China, June 21, 2008.

  • National Science Foundation, MUSES Collaborative Research Grant “Materials Flow Modeling in Sustainable Industrial Systems Within Urban Centers,” 5 year grant awarded September 2006.

  • National Science Foundation, MUSES Planning Grant: “Materials Flow Modeling in Sustainable Industrial Systems Within Urban Centers,” August 2004-December 2006. 

  • Georgia Tech Foundation, “Everyday Neighborhoods from Urban Nowhere Zones.” Principal Investigator. 2004.

  • Focused Research Project ECLiPS:  Expanding Closed Loops in Production Systems. Co-investigator. 2004.

  • "Deconstruction in Local Economic Development: A Sustainable Approach to Urban Revitalization.”  Principal Investigator, College of Architecture Georgia Tech Foundation grant. July 2003 – June 2004.

  • University of Louisville, “C & D Recycling for Economic Development,” Principal Investigator  2003.

  • "Integrating Manufacturing and Ecological Process Models for Ecosystem Impact Valuation: A Problem-Based Learning Approach." October 2002 to September 2003.  Principal investigator - Matthew Realff, Co-investigators - Berdinus Bras, Carol Carmichael, Jane Ammons and Nancey Green Leigh. National Science Foundation Premise Grant. 

  • "Ft. Valley Brownfield Redevelopment Studio." March 2002 to December 2002. City of Ft. Valley, GA. Principal Investigator;  Richard Dagenhart and John Skach, co-investigators. Create brownfield redevelopment plan.

  • "A State Agenda to Promote More Effective Urban Real Estate Markets." November 2001 to April 2002. Brookings Institution, Washington, DC.  Principal Investigator. Catalogue examples of successful legislative reforms at the state level and prepare a model agenda for promoting the redevelopment of urban vacant land.

  • "Modeling Brownfield Impacts on Housing Prices: The Neglected Element of Affordable Housing." December 2000 to December 2001. Fannie Mae Foundation, Washington, DC.  Principal Investigator. Cleveland and Atlanta case studies of brownfield redevelopment with national significance for evaluating current market-based approach to funding brownfield redevelopment and environmental justice.

  • "The Brownfields Reality Check: A Study of Land Value and the Effects of Brownfields on the Locations of Section 8 Households", July 2001 to September 2003, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Principal Investigator for dissertation fellowship of Sarah L. Coffin.

  • Advisor to development of Greyfields Tool Kit by Urban Collage for ARC, 2001.

  • "The Economic Development Potential of Georgia's Biotechnology Industry," August 2000 to February 2001. Georgia Department of Industry, Trade, and Tourism and Georgia Tech Economic Development Research Program. Principal Investigator, Joy Wilkins, co-investigator. National and Georgia analysis of biotechnology industry.

  • "Moultrie Brownfield Redevelopment Studio and In-town Industrial Park Design," August 2000 to June 2001. City of Moultrie. Principal Investigator, Richard Dagenhart, co-investigator. Model for redeveloping small-town obsolete industrial areas.

HONORS/AWARDS, RECOGNITION, AND MEMBERSHIP

  • Testimony on Reauthorization of the National Brownfields Program before U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, February 14, 2008.

  • Elected Fellow of American Institute of Certified Planners 2008

    Georgia Tech College of Architecture award for Outstanding Researcher, 2007.

    Georgia Planning Association, Student Project Award, 2007, for “City ReAssembly: When the Auto Plant Closes, Doraville Redevelopment Opportunities.”

    Board member, Chattahoochee Hill Country Alliance. 2006 - present.

    Georgia Planning Association, Student Project Award, 2003, “Fort Valley – Making Connections.”

    Best paper for “Modeling the Brownfield Relationship to Property Values and Community Revitalization,” Land Use and Reuse track, Urban Planning and Environment Conference, Christ College, Oxford University, UK, September 26, 2002.

    Conference Committee member, 2008 International Economic Development Council annual conference, Atlanta.

    Member, City of Atlanta’s Brownfield Redevelopment Advisory Group. 2006 --

  • National Science Foundation Grant, 2004

  • Vice-President, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, 1995-1997

  • Chair, Faculty Women Interest Group of American Collegiate Schools of Planning

  • American Institute of Certified Planners, 1994 Best Student Project Award (faculty advisor)

  • University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Community Partnership Outreach Award, 1993

  • University of Wisconsin Teaching Fellow, 1991-92

  • Regents Fellow, University of California-Berkeley, 1985-86

  • Woodrow Wilson Rural Policy Fellowship, 1988-89

  • National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant, 1987

  • Research Awards from federal and state agencies, foundations, and university research centers

  • Peer reviewer for planning and economic development journals

  • Invited lecturer to U.S. and U.K. universities

  • Member, American Planning Association

  • Member, American Institute of Certified Planners

  • Member, Great Lakes States Economic Development Researchers

  • Member, American Association of Geographers

  • Member, Georgia Economic Development Association

PUBLICATIONS AND RELATED ACTIVITIES (2000 - present)

Articles/Chapters in Books

  • “Planning, Urban Revitalization and Inner City:  An Exploration of Structural Racism,” in The Urban Planning Reader, with Catherine L. Ross, forthcoming 2008.

  • “Reusing Brownfields,” in Practice of Local Government Planning, 4th edition, forthcoming.

  • "Survey of State-Level Policies to Address Urban Vacant Land and Property Reuse," in Recycling the City, ed. Rosalind Greenstein, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2004.

  • "A New Community for Everyday People," with Catherine L. Ross, in Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 13, 2004.

  • "People versus Place: Telecommunications and Flexibility Requirements of the CBD," in Cities in the Telecommunications Age: Fractured Geographies, ed. James Wheeler, Yuko Aoyama, and Barney Warf, Routledge Press, 2000.

  • "Commentary on 'How Do We Know that 'But for the Incentive' The Development Would Not Have Occurred, ' " in Dilemmas of Urban Economic Development, ed. Richard Bingham and Robert Mier, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1997.

  • "Fixed Structures in Transition," in The Transition to Flexibility, ed. Daniel Knudsen, Kluwer Publishers, 1996.

Published Journal Papers

  • “The Economic Development-Urban Design Link in Brownfield Redevelopment,” Economic Development Journal, Vol. 7, No. 2, Spring 2008, pp. 30-39, with Kevin L. Bacon, Richard Dagenhart, and John Skach.

  • Journal of Planning Education and Research, “Intra-Metropolitan Spatial Differentiation and Decline of Inner-Ring Suburbs: A Comparison of Four U.S. Metropolitan Areas,” Winter 2007, Vol. 27, No. 2. With Sugie Lee.

  • Journal of Resource Conservation and Recycling, “Modeling Obsolete computer Stock under Regional Data Constraints:  An Atlanta Case Study,” Vol 51, pp. 847-869, 2007.  With Realff, Ai, French, Ross and Bras.

  • "Deconstructing to Redevelop: A Sustainable Alternative to Mechanical Demolition", Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 72, No. 2, Spring 2006, with Lynn M. Patterson.

  • "Introduction to the Special Issue on Smart Growth", Journal of Planning Literature, Vol. 19, No. 3, February 2005.

  • "Modeling the Relationship among Brownfields, Property Values, and Community Revitalization", Housing Policy Debate, Vol. 16, Issue 2, 2005, with Sarah L. Coffin.

  • "The role of inner ring suburbs in Metropolitan Smart Growth Strategies", Journal of Planning Literature, Vol. 19, No. 3, February 2005, with Sugie Lee.

  • "Philadelphia's Space in Between: Inner-Ring Suburb Evolution," Opolis, Vol. 1, No. 1, Winter 2005, with Sugie Lee.

  • " Local Manufacturing ," for new Encyclopedia of Community, Sage/Berkshire Publishing, 2003.

  • "A Solution for Small-Town Brownfield Districts Illustrated for Moultrie, Georgia," Journal of Environmental Practice, Vol. 5, No. 1, March 2003.

  • "A Framework for Geographically Sensitive and Efficient Recycling Networks," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, March, 2003, with Matthew Realff.

  • "Networking Creation and Public Policy in Biosciences Technology: The Southeast versus the Vanguard States," Southeast Geographer, November 2002, with Susan M. Walcott.

  • "Modeling the Brownfield Relationship to Property Values, Community Revitalization, and Affordable Housing," in submission to the Journal of Housing Policy, with Sarah L. Coffin.

  • "Industrial Era's Brownfield Legacy: Characterizing the Redevelopment Challenge," Journal of Urban Technology, Vol. 7, no. 3, December 2000, with Sarah L. Coffin.

  • "Promoting More Equitable Brownfield Redevelopment," Landlines, Vol. 12, No. 5, September 2000, Also reprinted in: Waste Dynamics northeast, December 2000; Urbanissimo (in French), and Urban Planning Expert (a Netherlands publication).

  • "Software Industry: The Big Picture and the View in Georgia," Economic development Review, Vol. 16, No. 4, Spring 2000, with Joy Wilkins.

  • "Planning, Spatial, and Technological Considerations of Restructuring in the U.S. Woodworking Industry," Economic Development Quarterly, May 2000.

  • "Planning, Urban Revitalization and the Inner City: An Exploration of Structural Racism," Journal of Planning Literature, February 2000, Vol. 14, No. 3, with Catherine L. Ross.

Professional Reports

  • " A Plan for the Moultrie Downtown Business Park," with Richard Dagenhart, to the City of Moultrie. January 2002.

  • "The Economic Development Potential of Georgia's Biotechnology Industry, Department of  Industry, Trade and Tourism and Georgia Tech Economic Development Research Program," February 2001.

  • "Promoting More Equitable Brownfield Redevelopment: Promising Approaches for Land Banks and Other Community Land Development Entities," Final Report to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, January 2000.

EDITORSHIPS

  • Guest editor, special issue of the Journal of Planning Literature on Smart Growth, February 2005.

  • Co-editor, focus section of Economic Development Quarterly on "Brownfield Constraints to Economic Development," 1994.

  • Co-editor, special issue of Economic Development Quarterly on "Gender Differentials in Economic Restructuring," 1993.